Volume IV Part 26 (2/2)
A girl fro very well, stayed to dinner Therese had also asked a young Bolognese, na charms of this pretty dancer, but as I was just then full of Therese, I did not pay much attention to her Soon after we sat down I saw a pluular Tartuffe, after nothing but Therese He ca on one knee in the Portuguese fashi+on, kissed her hand tenderly and respectfully Therese received hiht hand; I was at their left His voice, manner, and all about hinized him as the Abbe Gama, whom I had left at Rome seventeen years before with Cardinal Acquaviva; but I pretended not to recognize hiallant priest had eyes for no one but Therese, and he was too busy with saying a thousand soft nothings to her to take notice of anybody else in the conizetalk with the Corticelli, when Therese told me that the abbe wanted to knohether I did not recollect him I looked at his face attentively, and with the air of a , and then I rose and asked if he were not the Abbe Gama, hose acquaintance I was honoured
”The sa his arain This was in perfect agreeotten the portrait of him contained in the first volume of these Memoirs
After the ice had been thus broken it will be i conversation He spoke of Barbaruccia, of the fair Marchioness G----, of Cardinal S---- C----, and told uese service, in which he still continued I was enjoying his talk about numerous subjects which had interested ht absorbed allrown as Italians usually are at that age, carace, and kissed Therese I was the only person who did not know hi Therese introduced him to me with perfect coolness with the words:--
”That is reeted hihtly confused, as I had not had time to recoverih his complexion was rather clearer than mine I saw at once that he waslikeness between us This, then, was the surprise of which Therese had spoken; she had devised the pleasure of seeing hted, for she knew thatleft her such a pledge of our e in thewith child in her letters I thought, however, that she should not have brought about thisin the presence of a third party, for everyone has eyes in their head, and anyone with eyeslanced at her, but she avoidedat me so attentively that he did not hear as said to hi but look first at me and then at him, and if they caed to suppose that I had been the lover of Therese'sinto consideration the age she looked and gave herself out to be she could not possibly be his mother It was equally impossible that I could be Therese's father, as I did not look any older than she did
My son spoke the Neapolitan dialect perfectly, but he also spoke Italian very well, and in whatever he said I was glad to recognize taste, good sense, and intelligence He ell-inforht up at Naples, and his uished His mother made him sit between us at table
”His favourite amusement,” she said to h I aht years older I shall not be surprised if you pronounce him the better perforested this remark; men hardly ever approach women in this respect
Whether from natural ihted with my son that I embraced him with the utmost tenderness, and was applauded by the company I asked everybody to dine with me the next day, and my invitation was joyfully accepted; but the Corticelli said, with the utmost simplicity,
”May I come, too?”
”Certainty; you too”
After dinner the Abbe Gama asked me to breakfast with hi, as he was longing for a good talk with me
”Cohted to see you”
When the guests had gone Don Cesarino, as the pretended brother of Therese was called, asked me if I would ith hie was at his service, and that he and his brother-in-law could drive in it, but that I had resolved not to leave his sister that day Palesi seeeave Therese an ardent e such a brother
”My dear, he is the fruit of our amours; he is your son He makesto make him so”
”And I, too, anized hiive him a brother? How ardent you are!”
”Remember, beloved one, that to- more”
By this ht that it was the last time was a bitter drop in the cup of happiness
When we had regained our composure, Therese said,--
”The duke who took ht up our child; as soon as I knew that I was pregnant I confided my secret to him No one knew of my delivery, and the child was sent to nurse at Sorrento, and the duke had him baptized under the name of Caesar Philip Land He remained at Sorrento till he was nine, and then he was boarded with a worthy ht him music From his earliest childhood he has known me as his sister, and you cannot think how happy I hen I saw hi so like you I have always considered hi ould happen e met, for I knew that he would have the same influence over you as he has over itimate”
”And you have rendered all this, which would have made me happy, an impossibility”
”The fates decided so; ill say noCesarino at the sa school, under the protection of the Prince de la Riccia, who has always looked upon hih he does not know it, possesses the sum of twenty thousand ducats, of which I receive the interest, but you ret is that I cannot tell him I am his mother, as I think he would loveto lad I was to see your surprise to-day, and how soon you got to love hihts me People must think that you were my mother's lover My husband thinks that our friendshi+p is due to the connection between you and ht be my brother on the mother's side, but not on my father's; as he had seen his father in the theatre, but that he could not possibly be o to them, but if not Cesarino will be my heir My property is well secured, even if the Prince de Riccia were to die”